The 13 best francesinhas in Porto

What if we told you that there was a beer specially made for Brasão, with the Francesinha they serve here in mind? Well, it's true. Brasão and Sovina have teamed up to create the perfect wedding. Clearly it works: Brasão is now a must-visit in Porto.

Bufete Fase wouldn't be the same without people at the door, beer in hand, to endure a stoic wait to taste one of the best francesinhas in town. Those who go often know this well, and have coffee at the counter to give way to other customers. The ingredients of this Francesinha here are slightly different from normal; the sausage is at the top of the dish, and there's extra roast meat.

Anthony Bourdain loved it here. Need we say more? One of our critics was also there and liked it so much that he confessed to nearly ordering a second round (once you've tried one, you'll know how utterly insane that is). The bread is toasted, the meat is tasty, and you get a generous helping of potatoes too. 

This is maybe the most famous Francesinha house in town, served with thick hand-cut potatoes. The sausages come from Leandro, and according to owner Isabel Ferreira, the secret is in the sauce.

Capa Negra II is one of the obligatory stops for Francesinha lovers in Porto. Here they bet on the original recipe, but there are other options for different tastes. Trust us, just go and try one.

Only three people know the recipe of the sauce served in Cufra, which opened its doors in the revolutionary year of 1974. The sauce is its biggest secret, so it's not surprising that this is considered one of the meccas in Porto to eat this mythical dish which will make your stomach jump for joy.

Porto owes an important part of its gastronomic identity to Regaleira. It was here that Daniel David da Silva, an immigrant returning from France, invented the francesinha. In 1952, inspired by the French croque monsieur, he created a new sandwich, taking advantage of Portuguese smoked meats and drizzling it with a deeply flavourful sauce that promised to make Portuguese women as ‘spicy’ as French women. After closing for three years, the restaurant reopened in 2021, still on Rua do Bonjardim, but now at door 83. The original francesinha recipe (with its secret sauce) is still used today.

This is home to the ‘best francesinha in the world’. Why is the expression in quotation marks? Because it was registered by the owners of Lado B. Besides the francesinha, Lado B has everything you want in a brewery: hot dogs, good chips and ice-cold beers (ask for a fino).

If you like to eat francesinhas and eat at the counter, here is a place where you can and should do both. The space is small, but the francesinhas, the big bet of this house, are what really matters. They earned four stars from our critics for their food and their atmosphere, so it's bloody worth a go.

Barcarola is over 30 years old. After four months fine-tuning the sauce, the business began to grow. Today it is considered, with all the legitimacy, one of the best houses to eat francesinhas. Besides the classic, there are some variations, like a vegetarian and an Iberian version with bacon, mushrooms and olives.

Here, the francesinhas are cooked in a wood oven. The guys at Locanda fit ten in there at a time, which come out with bubbling sauce and grated cheese on top, all oozing and gooey. It's well worth going to Canelas to try it out (and stop eyeballing that photo. We see you). 

The current owners have had Yuko for almost 20 years now. Here there are three options of francesinha and all feature ham, which isn't typical of the dish. The traditional uses its classic sausage, but the Francesinha da Casa (the house francesinha) includes a very large beef steak and smoked sausage. Meat lovers, give it a go.

Tappas Caffé is a success story. The business started with a small restaurant in Candal, then this house was born in Madalena. Now, there's seven across the city. If you get there without booking ahead you have two options: either you wait, or you wait.